Legislature leaves some unfinished business (column)

6:46 PM,
Dec. 4, 2013

Written by

Bill Lueders
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Legislative bodies perform two critical and complementary functions. The first is to pass bills; the second is not to pass them.

This legislative session, nearly 1,000 bills have been introduced in the GOP-controlled state Assembly and Senate, including some identical bills in both houses. As the first year of the two-year session draws to a close, about 100 bills have passed. Just over half of these have been signed into law; the rest await Republican Gov. Scott Walker's approval or veto.

That leaves hundreds of other bills, including ones dealing with rubber duck races, drones and ...